Musica Universalis
by WayfareAngel
Summary: Musica Universalis is a HOTU fanfiction. It follows the story of the plane walkers Lore and his younger sister Tavia as they get mixed up in something larger than they ever intended. This story is dedicated to my beta reader from Petals and Thorns, Auddi.
1. Chapter 1

_Lore and Tavia belong to me, all else belongs to Bioware._

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Chapter One

The rain fell in sheets down upon the city of Waterdeep, washing blood from recent battles off the streets and to the alleys that carved the city. It was late, and for the first time in days the city was quiet. It wasn't a peaceful quiet, more the kind of quiet that comes when a baby has finally cried itself to sleep after wailing for its parents for hours on end. Not that the inhabitants of Waterdeep cared what kind of quiet it was so long as they were allowed a brief respite from the troubles that had been plaguing the city for the last month. As a result the majority of the people held up in the inn known as The Yawning Portal had taken the opportunity to enjoy a well earned rest. Thus, far past midnight when the storm was at its worst, it was more than a little surprising when a loud knock sounded at the inn door one… two… three times.

Grayban, the one armed half-orc who guarded the door shifted slowly from the nap he had been taking. It wasn't until the knocking began again that he realized someone was at the door and moved to open it. What he saw beyond was surprising.

A tall, thin man clad in black leathers had been knocking at the door, shortly behind him stood a young woman in a white traveling dress. Both were soaked to the bone, but even the half-orc knew better than to let them in. The man had a mop of black hair plastered to his face, a face with eyes like solid, gleaming obsidian instead of the array of white and other colors that normally made-up a person's eyes. Long, tapered ears pointed once on part of the lobe, and then continued further up to point once more. When the man brought his hand down from knocking at the door a glimpse of razor sharp, pointed nails could be seen.

The woman behind the man looked nothing like him. She was fey-like in appearance, short and willowy. Her skin was far too pale for her to be human, but instead of it taking on the waxy look of being unhealthy, it resembled a fine cream, as if her skin were meant to be that color. Her eyes were a pale grey-blue, like aged beach glass, and her long white hair was worn loose. Despite the lack of wind and the near torrential rain, the woman's hair and clothes still moved about her as if there was a gentle breeze surrounding her. Her eyes were fixed on nothing, as if she were listening to something far away, and seemed contented to simply stand behind the man while things worked themselves out.

Grayban wasn't sure if he should wake Durnan, or simply turn the two away. They were armed: the woman with a short sword at each hip and the man with a variety of knives and blades strapped to his person.

"Are you going to invite us in?" The man asked easily. When the man spoke glimpses of his teeth could be seen. They weren't normal teeth, but more resembled those one would expect to see on a carnivorous animal.

"Not sure if me should." Grayban said, eying the two of them. "Boss be telling me not to let anyone suspicious in."

The man looked like he was actually biting his tongue to keep from saying something. "Then why don't you go get your boss?" He finally managed.

Grayban hesitated. True, he wasn't supposed to let anyone strange in, and these two looked strange even to him, but it didn't seem right to leave them out in the rain. Reluctantly he closed the door and went to wake up Durnan. The pair was still waiting beyond the door when Grayban returned with the grumbling man.

"And what do you two want?" Durnan asked more curtly than normal, a bit annoyed he had been woken up so late.

"Are you Durnan?" The man asked.

"Aye. And who are you?" Durnan asked, eyeing the strange pair.

"My name is Lore, and this is my younger sister Tavia." Lore said, indicating the woman behind him.

"Your sister?" Durnan glanced over Lore's shoulder at Tavia. The woman looked nothing like Lore, but stranger families had been formed over the years. "Is she all right? She doesn't seem to be breathing."

Lore glanced back at Tavia. His sister's eyes were closed and she was swaying a bit from side to side, her lips moving just a little as if she was reciting something. "She's fine, doesn't need to breathe. She also doesn't speak common, so don't bother trying to speak directly to her."

"I see." Durnan said, glancing at Tavia briefly as he backed away from the door to let the siblings in. They certainly weren't human, or any other race he was familiar with, but for the moment they didn't seem hostile and he could honestly use all the help he could get. "May I ask what brings you here at such a late hour?"

Lore entered the inn, his sister close behind with a small smile on her face. "A lot of walking and a call for adventurers." Lore said easily. "Or have we come to the wrong besieged city?"

Durnan snorted. "No, you're in the right place. We simply weren't expecting—"

"Expecting people this late, expecting the weather to be so bad, expecting people like us?" Lore asked, his blank eyes fixing on Durnan.

"All of the above, you could say." Durnan said. "Not that I mean to be rude. We just don't typically get people like you in the Yawning Portal." Truth be told, Durnan had never seen anyone as unusual as the brother before. He had read about people like the sister, and could probably guess at her heritage if pressed, but her brother was a different story.

"Well, we're here now." Lore said. "If, however, you can afford to be so picky as to turn away help when it's offered then my sister and I will gladly leave."

"Now hold on, lad." Durnan said firmly. The boy had a mouth on him that much was apparent. If Durnan wanted to get back to bed soon and avoid a verbal sparring match with the young man he'd have to sort things out quickly. "No one is turning you away. We'll gladly have you if you're offering help."

"We've heard that you have been housing refugees under your roof. Is there room for us to sleep here tonight?" Lore asked, running his fingers back through his wet hair.

"We have a few rooms left, yes." Durnan said. "I could arrange for rooms for your sister and yourself."

"We'll only need the one room. We won't take up any more space than necessary." Lore said.

Durnan nodded to the siblings, and moved off to arrange their room.

* * *

"Backwater… boring as all hell… why we even bothered coming to this plane… perkele…" Tavia could hear Lore swearing to himself as they dried off. They had their backs to each other as they peeled their wet clothing off and changing into the driest articles of clothing they had. As he always did when they were alone, Lore was speaking in an obscure planar tongue that had been used in their village when they had been growing up. Tavia understood him, but she still didn't speak. Tavia rarely spoke, and she liked it that way. So often there was nothing to say and she found she was better off listening.

Tavia pulled a dry dress on and ran a towel over her hair. She wasn't worried about having to brush it. Tavia's hair never tangled.

"Well, don't worry, Tav." Lore said, turning to her now that they were both dressed and running a brush through the unruly black mess that was his hair. "I promise we won't stay on this plane any longer than we need to. We'll see what happens here and then we'll high tail it to the nearest portal out."

Tavia watched Lore intently as she sat down on the small cot that was to be her bed. Their room was little more than a storage closet, but the siblings were used to finding shelter in whatever small space was offered. They were travelers, and accustomed to such compromises.

"Do you still have it?" Lore asked Tavia as he spread out his leathers so they would dry properly.

Tavia knew what Lore was referring to, and reached into her bag to pull out a small relic of indeterminable make or origin. Tavia had seen it at one point in their travels in the outer planes, and had made the mistake of picking it up. She and her brother had been wandering the planes for years; Lore was quite clear with her that she should have known better than to pick it up. Her brother had made her drop the relic several times, but it always seemed to find its way back into her pack again. Lore hadn't been happy about that, not happy at all. In truth the only reason Lore had brought them to Toril was because a friend of theirs had told them that coming to the city of Waterdeep was the only way to get rid of the thing.

Then they had found out just what the relic did, and found out who the Reaper was and what his realm was like.

Tavia knew that Lore didn't care if some city on a backwater plane they had never heard of burned to the ground and the people were all killed. He had brought them here so he could protect his sister and free her from something he viewed as a threat. Tavia loved her brother; the least she could do was go along with whatever he had planned.

"Every time I lay eyes on that thing, it sends a chill down my spine." Lore said with a shiver. "Well, if our information is correct we should be able to get rid of it by solving issues beneath the city." He said with a sigh, shaking his head. "The locals call their labyrinth 'Undermountain,' right?"

Tavia nodded.

"Paska." Lore swore under his breath. He was so fond of obscure curses, Tavia had noticed. "Well, if going underground and meddling in the problems of mortals will keep you safe, then that's what we'll do." Lore muttered, going to the door and making sure it was locked before moving back to his own cot. "Tomorrow I'll ask around and find out as much about the situation as I can. And remember," Lore said, pointing to his sister. "We're keeping a low profile, so be as boring and ordinary as you possibly can."

Tavia couldn't help but laugh at that. Lore worried so much sometimes, it was hard not to find it amusing.

"I'm serious." Lore said pointedly. "Vittu… this plane is so incredibly… plain! It's no wonder we shock them." Lore said, shaking his head in disgust. "Imagine a sky that's only one color. The people here are boring as dirt; I doubt they'd even recognize you as a genasi."

Tavia couldn't help but laugh again. She loved her brother deeply, but he was an intense snob at times. Sometimes Tavia wondered if they traveled because they wanted to, or if it was because Lore had a talent for rapidly becoming disliked in a community.

"Will you stop that?" Lore asked, rolling his eyes. "We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. Get some sleep while you can."

Tavia simply nodded to her brother and crawled under the sheets of her cot and closed her eyes. The sounds of Lore shuffling around behind her faded from her mind as she stopped listening to him, and started listening for something else. The sounds came to her ears slowly, a gentle melody that permeated everything around her and found its way to her easily. Awake or asleep the song she heard now had found her ears ever since she was a little girl and it brought her great comfort and delight at all times. It was a beautiful song, the song of life and the multiverse moving through eternity at its own patient pace. This song, the Music of the Spheres, lulled her to sleep that night like it had every night of her life.

Tavia slept well and undisturbed that night. It would be the last time she slept so well for a long time to come.


	2. Chapter 2

_Lore and Tavia belong to be, all else belongs to Bioware._

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Chapter Two

Someone was in the room.

Tavia didn't need to open her eyes to know there was an intruder in the room she was sharing with her brother. After years of traveling with her brother she was familiar with the sounds Lore made when he moved about a room. Lore's footfalls were naturally soft, his movements fluid, and when he moved about a room he typically forgot things, meaning he had to cross back and forth across the floor.

_What to do, what to do?_ Tavia thought to herself. _I doubt this is just a thief. Thieves aren't as skillful as whoever is here now. This means a fight. This means do I want to get up and kill them, or wait for them to come to me and risk getting blood on the sheets?_ Tavia sighed inwardly. She didn't mind blood on the sheets except for the fact that they belonged to the inn. If she got the inn's sheets stained and covered with intestines would that make her a bad guest? It probably would…

Out of habit Tavia's swords were beside her in her cot. In one fluid movement the swords were in hand and Tavia was on her feet, ready for battle. What she saw surprised her, but it didn't stop her from moving directly to attack.

There was a woman in the room, and it seemed Tavia had been right to assume it wasn't just a thief. True, Tavia's things were nowhere to be seen and the woman now seemed to be going through Lore's things, but that armor… the armor the woman was wearing was very finely made. And that skin! The woman looked like an elf with black skin. Tavia had never seen anyone like her in her life. She'd have to ask Lore about this when she found him later. In the mean time, though, Tavia lunged at the woman, who was in the process of drawing her own weapons.

The battle was far from challenging. _Step, step, duck, stab._ The strange elven woman obviously hadn't been expecting Tavia to be so hard to hit. Over the years Tavia had developed a style of fighting that suited her well. She knew she couldn't inflict much damage directly due to her lack of strength, but she was agile and fast with a natural grace that made movement around obstacles and other people nearly effortless. If she couldn't hit hard, she'd hit key areas as many times as she could. Since the woman attacking Tavia hadn't been expecting this tactic, it was easy for her to drop almost flat to the floor and cut the woman's ankle tendons with a sickening snap.

That sound… that sound combined with the sight of the blood weeping from her attackers wounds caused a shiver to run up Tavia's spine and made her heart beat faster. The sensation didn't stop Tavia from coming to her feet quickly and stabbing the woman through the heart, though. Now… now with the strange elf dead Tavia could stop to survey the situation.

The skirt of Tavia's dress dragged into the pool of blood spilling from the elf as she knelt down beside the dead woman. Tavia raised two elegant, tapered fingers to the woman's neck to check for a pulse, and when she was satisfied that she was dead she moved her hand down to touch the wound she had caused in the dead woman's chest.

So much blood… it amazed Tavia every time that so much of the red liquid could fit inside a person's body. Tavia let her hands drop to her sides and rest in the mess surrounding her as she closed her eyes and breathed deep the coppery scent that was filling the room. Her heart pounded in her ears as she brought one blood soaked hand up to her face, bringing her fingers to her cheek to better feel the texture of the substance.

That's when the door opened to reveal Lore, now frozen in place as he watched his blood-drenched sister sitting beside a dead woman who hadn't been there when he'd left an hour earlier.

The horrified look on his face grew more intense as Tavia turned to look up at him, her eyes half lidded and a gentle smile on her face. "Oh, this is bad." Lore breathed, his eyes wide. "Tavia, Tavia look at me!" Lore demanded, quickly closing the door behind him. "Tavia, what happened? What did you do?"

Tavia didn't reply. _He'll figure it out in a moment. Lore always figures things out, he really lives up to his name like that. _Tavia gathered herself up, her skirt clinging to her legs and the blood on her hands and face all ready mostly dried. _He was probably out finding something to eat, mores the pity then._

Lore took his sister by the shoulders and looked her over quickly for injuries. Satisfied that she was unharmed, Lore then turned his attention to the woman on the floor.

"A drow assassin." Lore groaned as his hopes of maintaining a low profile shattered before his eyes.

Tavia looked at Lore questioningly.

"The drow are a race of subterranean elves. They also happen to be attacking the city." Lore said, pressing her hand to his eyes as he tried to think. Something was missing from the room. A quick glance around revealed that Tavia's things were gone, though Lore's seemed only moved a bit. Tavia must have killed the assassin before she could finish stealing their things. "Okay, we have to tell that racially insensitive inn keeper what happened." Lore said, more to himself than to Tavia as he stood up. She was listening to him, yes, but he wasn't expecting her to say anything. She rarely did. "Vittujen kevät ja kyrpien takatalvi. They're going to want to see the body, aren't they?" Lore said dejectedly. "It would have been so much easier just to take care of it ourselves. There's no way this could have been a random break in though, and we need information."

Tavia came up behind her brother and hugged him reassuringly around the shoulders, as if trying to tell him things would be all right.

Lore pushed himself up, patting his sister's hand as he tried to think of what to do next. "All right… someone broke into our room, stole your stuff, tried to steal mine, and then tried to kill you when you woke up. Do I have the general idea?"

Tavia nodded.

"Okay, then. All my equipment seems to be here. Do you still have your weapons?"

Again Tavia nodded, indicating where she had lain down her swords.

"Good. Clothes and camping equipment can be replaced, even if they won't be the quality we're used to, but I wouldn't want to send you into battle with inferior weapons." Lore said. He began to pace, trying to think of what needed to be done and in what order it needed to be done in. "Okay… even if Durnan is a jerk, he seems reasonable. I doubt he'll blame us for an assassin getting in to his inn. He had a wife and daughter… maybe they could lend you some clothes while we try to find store in the city that hasn't been boarded up. You need to get cleaned up, and… wait. The Relic of the Reaper was in your pack right?"

Tavia nodded once again.

Suddenly Lore felt hopeful. "Okay, so maybe some good came of this. Maybe we're finally rid of that thing."

Tavia was doubtful, but she humored her brother by looking about quickly to see if the relic had found its way back to her.

Lore groaned as Tavia picked up the relic from under her pillow. "Perkele, perkele, perkele!" Lore cursed, as if it made him feel better. "I need to think…" He breathed, pressing his hands to his temples. "Okay, we need to cover you up. I know you don't mind blood, but if we parade you through the inn looking like that, people will panic." Lore said, moving to his bag to rummage around for a cloak. "We need to go speak to Durnan, get you some clothes, get you a bath, then replace the equipment that was stolen from us." He breathed, pulling out a rough woolen cloak that was much too big for Tavia. Lore was satisfied as he draped it around his sister's shoulders though since it hid almost all of her form from view. "After that we'll see about moving things along here. I don't want something like this happening to you again."

Tavia couldn't help but give a small, sad smile as she reached out and took Lore's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. _Poor thing,_ she thought to herself. _He's trying so hard to keep us safe. I can't help but feel a bit bad for getting us into this situation in the first place. If I had just—_

Tavia's thoughts were cut off as Lore gave her a firm look. "Don't put on that expression. I _know_ what that expression means." Lore said sternly. "We've been in worse spots than this, and we'll get out of this one as well."

Tavia couldn't help but smirk a bit. _Like the last time they were in Sigil and they had to run for the nearest portal because Lore had slept with an incubus who turned out to be the lover of a particularly large and jealous balor._

Lore shifted uncomfortably. "Again, I know what you're thinking, and you promised we'd never speak of it again." Lore said, well aware his sister hadn't said anything.

Tavia couldn't help but giggle, letting go of Lore's hand to pull the cloak tightly around her.

"Fine, be that way." Lore said with an exasperated sigh. "Just… just stay close to me, okay? Let's go sort as much of this out as possible."

With Tavia shortly behind him, Lore opened the door to their small room and ventured out into the hallway in search of answers.


	3. Chapter 3

_Lore and Tavia belong to be, everything else belongs to Bioware._

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Chapter 3

Tavia quickly decided that she didn't like Undermountain. Never having liked being underground to begin with, Tavia found that a subterranean death trap filled with things that wanted to kill her and puzzles to block the path only made the experience worse. Then there was the fact that physically Tavia had never done well with low altitudes. When she and Lore had descended into the darkness using the Well in the Yawning Portal, she had needed half an hour or so to recover afterward. Fortunately once they were in Undermountain they found that there were no more abrupt drops, and Tavia was able to adapt easily enough as they moved between the floors without having to stop too often to rest.

Lore would have preferred them to have no need to enter Undermountain, but after speaking to Durnan it became clear that a decent was needed. Lore had learned from the inn keeper that the wizard Halaster, who was the ruler of Undermountain, had seemingly disappeared. Since the mad wizard had vanished the streets of Waterdeep had been flooded with drow attackers, and it turned out Tavia hadn't been the first to be attacked by an assassin while she slept.

That had ultimately been the deciding factor for Lore. If there was a chance that Tavia could be attacked again then Lore wanted to sort things out as quickly as possible. The question of why Tavia had been attacked settled uneasily at the back of his mind, but with no clear answer to the question available in the near future Lore had resigned himself to simply protect his sister the best he could. Durnan had been adamant that Lore and Tavia not go into Undermountain alone, but Lore had won the yelling match that ensued. The siblings were not going into Undermountain to wage war; they were going to find out where the drow had come from and what had happened to Halaster. On their own they were quick, stealthy, and likely to get past the inhabitants of Undermountain without being seen. As for the numerous puzzles and traps that Undermountain was supposed to contain… well, Lore was more than confident he could sort them all out. Lore had a love of puzzles and logic games that had followed him all his life, so when they reached the brightly colored challenges that the maze offered Lore had mulled them over for a few moments and then solved them with little to no trouble.

It wasn't until they had slipped past a door guarded by a puzzle of color and chains that they encountered their first real problem.

Lore had just guided them down to a new level of Undermountain, his movements cautious and his eyes ever wary for traps, when he brought himself and his sister to an abrupt halt.

"You hear that, Tav?" Lore breathed to Tavia in their obscure planar tongue. When Tavia nodded to him, Lore's hands easily found the throwing knives strapped over his torso. Things had tried following them in Undermountain, but few moved with the skill of whatever was tracking them now. The question was why it hadn't attacked them yet. Lore didn't like unanswered questions. "You may as well come out, we know you're there." Lore barked authoritively in Common.

Slowly a woman emerged from the shadows, her hands up to show that she was unarmed. The woman, Lore realized, was a drow. This was curious to Lore because they had seen several bands of drow on their way down through Undermountain. None of them had been on their own, none of them had been unarmed, and none of them had detected Lore and his sister. This woman was an anomaly, and life had taught Lore that anomalies were typically _bad._

"Please, lower your weapons, I mean you no harm." The drow woman said, her eyes running over Lore quickly before locking on Tavia. Tavia looked back to the drow woman, her expression curious but her hands still on the swords at her hips.

Lore kept a throwing knife trained on the woman."Lady, I subscribe to the theory of there being infinite realities, but believe me when I say that in none of them am I lowering my weapons." Lore said, venom practically dripping off his words.

"Please, I understand your suspicion." The drow woman said, still looking at Tavia wonderingly. "But not all the drow are out for your blood."

Lore stepped in front of his sister, blocking her from the woman's view. "You think I'm suspicious of you because you're drow?" Lore scoffed. "Lady, I am the result of years of inbreeding and mixed raced people doing things behind closed doors that would make even a whore blush and avert their eyes in shame. So when I say I'm not suspicious of you because of your race, I mean that." Lore said, pausing in his rant to catch his breath. "I'm suspicious because you've been following us for the last ten minutes and you're staring at my sister like she's some sort of two-headed lizard with a tail made of rainbows."

"I apologize for that." The drow woman said. "I was sent here to make contact with your sister and yourself, but I have not been sure entirely when or how to go about it."

"Well, isn't that nice?" Lore said, his knives still trained on the woman's head.

Tavia had been ignoring her brother and his suspicions. Once Lore got into what Tavia had deemed a 'sarcasm loop' there was no point in trying to get him out of it. Instead Tavia looked around her brother to the woman who had approached them. The drow woman's expression was nervous; a kind of nervous that often accompanied a person when set to a difficult and important task.

_But why would she be that nervous?_ Tavia asked herself. _She looks as if she has the weight of the world on her shoulders. And yet… there's something else there too, isn't there? She looks almost hopeful._

Ultimately Tavia decided that this wasn't someone she or her brother needed to be afraid of. Lore likely couldn't be convinced of the woman's positive intentions. Years of plane walking and constant vigilance had ensured that her brother never trusted anything until it was dead, dissected, and its ashes scattered to the wind.

So Tavia did something potentially very stupid: she lifted her hands to show that they were also empty, and slowly moved around her brother and towards the drow woman.

"Tavia, what are you doing?" Lore asked his sister sternly, reaching to pull her back behind him.

Tavia easily evaded her brother's hand continued to move slowly towards the drow woman. The other woman didn't seemed to know what exactly she should do, and thus stood frozen in place as Tavia approached her and took her hands in her own.

The drow woman stared at Tavia as her cool hands gave her a reassuring squeeze and a gentile, genuine smile crossed her lips as if to tell the drow that everything was all right.

"You must be Tavia." The drow woman breathed, looking at the woman in front of her in amazement.

Lore's eyes were narrowed, not at all pleased with his sister's actions, and now worried about something more. "She doesn't speak Common." Lore said, a little shrill. "And how did you know her name?"

The drow woman stared at Tavia for a moment longer before freeing her hands and looking to Lore. "I know both your names. You are Lore, and she is Tavia." The woman said, apparently having collected her thoughts. "I have much to tell you both and promise that all will be made clear when I finish speaking."

"Well then, you'd better do that." Lore said firmly, now succeeding in pulling his sister back and behind him.

The drow woman said her name was Nathyrra. While she spoke Lore translated so Tavia could understand, and it was this way that they learned that Nathyrra was a member of a group of rebel drow who opposed a tyrant drow matron called the Valsharess who sought to take over both the Underdark and the surface world. Lore hadn't really cared what Nathyrra was saying until she mentioned that it was the Valsharess who had captured Halaster and was holding him hostage.

"Paska…" Lore cursed, pressing his hands to his eyes. This was supposed to be simple: go down into Undermountain, free Halaster, and get rid of the creepy object haunting his sister. Now there were rebels involved and a plot to take over the world… Lore was beginning to wonder if all this was worth the trouble. "Right, so at least now we know what we're up against, assuming you're telling the truth."

"I understand your suspicions." Nathyrra said. "At first we weren't sure if we should approach you at all, but it was finally decided that you deserved to know what you were facing and that there were others who opposed the Valsharess."

"I don't give a damn about this 'Valsharess.'" Lore snorted. "I have my own reasons for being here and from bringing my sister with me. As soon as Halaster is free and this little invasion is done we're both out of here."

Nathyrra visibly stiffened at Lore's words, her eyes moving from him back to his sister. Tavia was still smiling at her around her brother. "All I am here to do is provide you with information. What you do with it is entirely up to you."

"Damn straight." Lore said, taking hold of his sister's hand as he started to move away from the drow woman. "Now if you'll excuse us, ever moment we spend talking to you is an extra moment we have to spend in this dump, and I intend to get us out of here as soon as possible."

* * *

Lore screamed in frustration.

A geas. They had gone through all that trouble to free Halaster and the moment Lore turned his back the bastard went and placed a geas on his sister. And for what? So she would go and kill someone they had never heard of an hour before. Lore had been poised to attack the mad wizard, but then something had happened… Nathyrra had been there, had helped with freeing Halaster, and then…

Halaster had teleported them somewhere.

Lore shelved his anger for a moment as he glanced around. Tavia was standing stark still near him, and they were surrounded by heavily armed drow soldiers. Instinctively Lore pulled Tavia to him and reached for his weapons. He was about to strike out at the nearest solider when a voice rose about the sound of movement.

"Halt!" It was an authoritative female voice that caused even Lore to hesitate. "Everyone, sheath your weapons. These are not our enemies."

Lore hesitated, cautious still, but as the soldiers moved out of the way put their weapons away Lore relaxed a little released his sister as he put his weapons away. Tavia was still unmoving and staring off into space as if she were watching something in the distance. This worried Lore a little as there was no distance to be staring at. They were in a medium sized room that looked like part of a temple. So what was running through Tavia's mind?

Lore turned his head from his sister to observe the rest of the room. It all looked very official, like a meeting hall. Drow soldiers were everywhere, though down towards the end of the hall there seemed to be a tiefling. What was a tiefling doing here of all places? Lore quickly forgot this line of mental inquiry though as his eyes fell on the woman at the end of the hall who seemed to of been the one who had spoke.

The woman was beautiful. From what Lore had seen all the drow tended to be aesthetically pleasing, but there was something about this woman that was different. Perhaps it was in the way she carried herself, or in the tilt of her head, or the rich timber of her voice. She was like a fine painting come to life, and though Lore found he rarely noticed these things in women he couldn't help but notice them in her.

"Please, do not be alarmed." The woman said as she moved down from the dais at the end of the room and towards Lore and his sister. "You are welcome here, we mean you no harm."

"Then why don't you explain where exactly 'here' is." Lore said uneasily, though he was pleased that the woman had deemed it right to stay a few meters away from them.

"You are in the Underdark. Specifically, you are in the drow city of Lith My'athar." The woman explained. "I am called the Seer."

"More a title than a name." Lore observed, eyeing the woman suspiciously.

"An apt title, none the less." The Seer said with a small smile. "You and your sister are safe here, Lore. I know my word may not mean much to you, but I offer it none the less."

Lore's jaw stiffened and his eyes narrowed. "First that woman called Nathyrra knows our names, and now you do too? Right, nothing about that is creepy or disturbing at all."

"I know this must be a confusing encounter." The Seer said. "But I assure you, I can explain everything if you will let me."

"I don't care what your explanations are." Lore snapped. "I am taking my sister and—"

"It's wrong."

The words had been spoken by Tavia, in Common of all things, and the words caused Lore to stop mid sentence to turn and stare wide eyed at his sister.

Tavia hadn't felt well from the moment they had been teleported down to the Underdark. The altitude had lowered too much too suddenly for Tavia to adapt to it the way she had been in Undermountain, and as a result she was feeling feverish and her vision was swimming in front of her. These ailments were quickly forgotten though when Tavia slowly began to realize that something was horribly wrong.

The Music of the Spheres, the music she had heard all her life, had suddenly changed. The change in the music had been subtle, and anyone who wasn't as familiar with it as Tavia might never had noticed it, but to her it was like sharp nails dragging on a piece of glass. The change in the sound was coming from a specific direction, and it was that way that Tavia looked, her eyes glassy and her head pounding.

"It's wrong, something's changed." Tavia breathed, her voice airy and soft.

"What's wrong, Tavia? What's changed?" Tavia felt Lore's hands on her shoulders, steadying her as her legs gave out from beneath her.

_He seems so far away._ Tavia thought to herself. _Am I fainting? I think I may be. Good. Maybe when I wake up again the music will be back to the way it's supposed to be. I'll just rest for a bit and let Lore handle things. Lore's good at handling things…_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"No. Absolutely not!"

After Lore had made sure Tavia was resting as well as possible in an ante chamber he had gone back to speak with the Seer. He had been loathed to leave his sister unattended, but she had suffered Altitude Sickness before and experience had taught him that all he could do was wait for it to pass. In the mean time Lore needed to get all the information he could from the Seer regarding the situation and how he could get out of it.

What Lore had learned greatly disturbed him.

According to the Seer the Valsharess was some crazy drow bitch- Lore's words not the Seer's- who in a bid for power had summoned one of the rulers of the Nine Hells. The part where Lore started having problems was when the Seer told Lore that the Valsharess wanted Tavia dead, and that his sister was the only one who could save the drow rebels and possibly the world.

"Please, Lore. I know this must be upsetting but we need to discuss this rationally." The Seer said, trying her best to be calm and reassuring.

Unfortunately Lore was in no mood to be calmed."Rational? You want _me_ to be _rational_?" Lore half shrieked, unable to believe he was even in this situation at all. "You basically just told me you want my sister to march up and kill a woman that we've never heard of before! A woman, I might add, who has somehow managed to bind an arch-devil to her service. Given the circumstances I think I'm being perfectly rational!" Lore had to pause for breath. He had become progressively shriller as he yelled at the strange assortment of people in the room.

For the moment there was silence in the room but it was broken by the red haired tiefling standing near the Seer.

"Well," The tiefling said, clearing his throat. "I suppose that's that. Our newcomers will simply be on their way."

"Valen!" Nathyrra shot sternly at the tiefling.

"I simply mean," The tiefling said, stiffening a bit. "That if they don't want to help berating them will not make a difference."

"Might I remind everyone that the decision that needs to be made now is not Lore's to make, but Tavia's." The Seer said firmly.

"My sister—" Lore stopped mid sentence, grinding his teeth. _Go on,_ he chided himself. _Tell the people you just met that your sister is a masochist with a blood fetish who hears things. Tell them that there are times when even you doubt her sanity. That'll go over well. And while you're at it, why don't you tell them what kind of meat you have wrapped up and hidden in your pack? Why don't you tell them where those bones you snack on in the pouch at your hip came from? That's not going to get you killed. _"My sister," He continued. "Doesn't always do what's in her best interest. Since coming here someone has tried to assassinate her, a geas has been placed on her, and she's succumbed to a severe bought of Altitude Sickness."

Lore sighed, pressing his hands to his eyes. "Even if we stayed Tavia is unlikely to fully recover while we're underground. She's an air genasi, a race of plane-touched that typically doesn't operate well at low altitudes." Lore explained. "Look, I know how heartless this may sound but I've never been good at faking compassion. I don't care what happens to the people of this plane, or the people you lead, Seer." Lore said frankly. "You could all die horrible, bloody deaths and I assure you I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. I just want to get my sister back to the planes and get that geas off of her."

Lore was aware of how unpopular those words had just made him. Nathyrra was glaring at him and the red haired tiefling looked like he wanted to tear his head off. Lore was willing to be that neither of them had ever had anyone close to them they had to worry about, though. Tavia was the only family Lore had. Together they had walked the planes since they were children, and Lore wasn't willing to risk his sister's life for the lives of people they didn't know. If something happened to her it would be his fault. Already he had brought her here to get rid of something plaguing her, and things had gotten so much worse than he had foreseen. How was he supposed to subject her to the dangers of a hopeless war?

The Seer sighed, a look of dismay paining her face. "If you are so intent on leaving with your sister, then I suppose there is nothing we can say to change your mind." Resigned, the Seer straightened. "When your sister is well enough to travel we will send someone to guide you back to the surface."

"Thank you, I would appreciate that." Lore said with a nod, a bit relieved.

The room was silent for a few minutes and then Tavia pushed open the door to the ante chamber. She stood in the door way, leaning on it for support as she still felt dizzy. Her limbs felt heavy and her vision swam before her eyes, but she had been listening to the entire conversation.

_Oh, Lore._ She thought to herself. _I know you want to keep us safe, but you don't understand. You don't hear what I hear. I can tune the music out, but the knowledge that it's wrong is still with me._

Tavia pushed herself from the doorway and stumbled over to Lore. Half way to him she tripped over her feet and Lore rushed to catch her.

"Hey, careful." He said gently as he sank to his knees with her, holding on to her shoulders. "You're only going to hurt yourself if you push yourself, you know that." Lore said, removing one of his gloves to feel Tavia's forehead. She was mildly warm, something that would be good for most people. Tavia's regular body temperature when she was healthy, however, was just below that of a normal person's. The fact that she was a little warm meant she was still fevered, and Lore wanted to get her resting again as soon as possible.

Tavia gripped at Lore's armor, her eyes meeting his with a stricken and worried expression.

"It's okay. It's okay." Lore breathed, pushing his sister's hair back from her face. "I'm not mad you didn't tell me you could speak Common. We can talk about it later. As soon as you're better we'll get out of here and back to the planes. All right?"

Tavia shook her head violently, an action that caused her head to pound. She rested her head against Lore's armor while she focused on keeping her vision straight.

Lore stared down at his sister confused. "What's the matter, Tavia?" He asked with a frown. "What are you trying to tell me?"

Tavia looked up and met Lore's eyes. _How can I make him understand?_ She wondered to herself. _How do I tell him that even if the compulsion to fix the song wasn't there, I wouldn't be able to ignore people asking me for help? How do I tell him that I can't be as detached as he is? I'm not that strong. I'm not that cold. I can't help it, but I care._

Lore looked down at his sister sadly. She wanted to stay, and there was nothing he could do to change that. Once his little sister made up her mind there was nothing that could change her decision. If Lore tried to drag her from the Underdark she would fight back and stay there without him. If Tavia wanted to stay then she was going to stay, and Lore was better off where he could keep an eye on her. "This is going to be incredibly dangerous, you know that right?" He asked Tavia quietly.

Tavia nodded, a small, relieved smile curling up her lips.

"Okay, then." Lore breathed, helping his sister to her feet as he stood up. "Right! Change in plans." Lore said, looking to the Seer. "My sister and I are staying. We'll do what we can to help you, but I'm not sure how much help we'll be."

"My lady Seer," The man named Valen said, a look of displeasure etched on his face. "I don't think this is a wise course of action. Are we truly to put our trust in a man who clearly doesn't want to be here and a woman who was defeated by altitude?" His voice almost came out in a snarl, a mocking tone easily mixing with his words.

"Wow, I'm sorry, I didn't realize we had another master of the great art of sarcasm in the room." Lore drawled. "Why don't you stand right there for a moment? You stay right there so I can just bask in the warm glow of your arrogance."

This was when Tavia stopped listening. Lore was caught in a sarcasm loop again, and looked like he and the other man were now engaged in trading snarky comment that would likely reduce weaker people to tears.

Content to let Lore have his fun and get all his sarcastic comment out, Tavia took the time to observe the other people in the room. There was the woman Nathyrra, whom she had met earlier in Undermountain. Nathyrra looked more comfortable now, though still on her guard. She was laughing at one of the comments one of the men had gotten in, and smile did wonderful things for her face. Tavia was glad to see Nathyrra smiling. When she and her brother had met her before Nathyrra had clearly been worried about something, even if she tried to hide it, and Tavia hated seeing people so distressed.

Tavia's eyes next moved to the man in the room. Ignoring the vibrant red of his hair and the paleness of his skin, Tavia was willing to bet he was a tiefling. It would have been easy for anyone from the planes to recognize the man called Valen as a tiefling. Tiefling's came in all shapes and sizes, but Tavia had never seen a set of horns or a tail like his on a person who wasn't at least part infernal in origin. Valen's stance was one of strength and confidence, his armor and the large flail on his back marking him as some kind of warrior. Tavia was, she would admit, a little curious about this man. She hadn't seen another planar since she and her brother arrived in Toril, and had even gone so far as to wonder if they were the only plane-touched in the strange new world. Apparently Tavia had been wrong, and something in that fact pleased her.

It was now that Tavia turned her eyes to the Seer, who in turn turned her eyes to Tavia. The two women gazed at each other for a long moment, and Tavia suddenly felt oddly nervous. It was the _way_ the other woman was looking at Tavia that made her uneasy, like she knew everything about Tavia without even trying. It was like the other woman was looking into her soul and seeing all the secrets that lay there.

Admittedly a little frightened, Tavia turned from the Seer and closed her eyes.

"Enough!" Valen roared, shattering Tavia's meditation as she now turned to look at the man. Apparently he was done verbally dueling with Lore. "Seer, please. I do not trust these people! You saw what the girl was doing earlier. You saw where she was looking."

"Yes, good Valen, I did see." The Seer said, her voice still calm and soothing. "However, my faith in young Tavia is only strengthened by seeing the display."

"What?" Valen said, unable to keep himself from snapping.

"Does anyone want to tell me _why_ my sister doing something strange is causing such a fuss?" Lore asked, raising a brow.

"The direction Tavia was looking in is the approximate direction in which the Valsharess' fortress lies." Nathyrra explained.

"Voi vittu." Lore cursed to himself under his breath. How was he supposed to handle this one? "That's what you were referring to earlier, wasn't it?" Lore asked his sister, remembering the few words she had deigned to speak not too long ago.

"It's all right, Lore." The Seer said. "You needn't worry. The goddess has spoken to me of your sister's talents, and I assure you they will not be met with hostility."

"What do you mean, Mother Seer?" Nathyrra asked the Seer, looking to her quizzically.

"Tavia," Lore began slowly. "Sort of… hears things." Lore explained.

"What she hears," The Seer began. "If I understand correctly, is the sound of the life and the multiverse moving together in harmony. When she spoke earlier, I believe she noticed that something had changed in the music she was so used to hearing. Am I correct?" The Seer asked Tavia, meeting the genasi's gaze.

Tavia bit her lower lip, still a bit afraid of the Seer, and nodded her head slowly. Tavia was briefly aware of Nathyrra staring at her in amazement, and Valen regarding her in suspicion.

"If I had to make an educated guess, I would say that this disturbance is caused by the arch-devil the Valsharess has enslaved, and that Tavia was merely looking towards the source of the disturbance." The Seer explained.

After a moment the Seer moved slowly over to Tavia. Lore tensed, ready to intervene, as did Valen he noticed, but all that happened was that the Seer took Tavia's hands in her own.

"Tavia." The Seer said gently. Despite her nerves, Tavia found herself turning her head to look into the Seer's kind, earnest eyes. "You have a wonderful gift. You know this. With time and proper instruction you could do so much good with this gift." The Seer said. "I too have been blessed with the ability to know things, though I achieve this by communing with my goddess. If you wish it, with time I could teach you how to better use your natural talents."

Tavia didn't respond. She was ill, tired, and still a little scared of the Seer. She'd never met a woman who was so powerful and yet so serene at the same time. Tavia wasn't sure what to do when confronted with such a person as this.

The Seer let go of Tavia's hands, smiling at her reassuringly. "You don't have to decide right now." The Seer told Tavia. "We will give yourself and Lore time to rest, and then we can discuss what comes next. In the mean time, relax. I'm sure you must be feeling ill. Come, let's find you some place comfortable to lie down for a little while."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

In the few days that passed while Tavia was recovering she and Lore met with the Seer and her advisers. Unfortunately Valen seemed to be one of the advisers as he was in charge of most of the organization and training of the rebel soldiers. This wouldn't have been a problem at all if it hadn't turned out that Lore and Valen had decided at some point that they didn't like each other. As a result whenever the two men were in the same room, as often happened in the meetings held, there was a tense atmosphere that often ended in the two men seeing who could stare the most daggers across the meeting table at each other.

Despite the open hostility between them, though, Valen didn't mind Lore for the most part. He didn't like Lore or trust him enough to hold his armor polish, but he didn't mind him either. Lore was easy to understand, Valen found. It had been revealed that Lore and Tavia were plane walkers, and the only family the other had. Valen had remembered the dangers the planes offered to those who were careless and how cruel they could be to the weak. Lore was simply trying to keep himself and his sister alive and even if he didn't like the man, he could understand his position. Besides, from what had been revealed at the meetings Lore seemed to be a genius with battle tactics, and if he proved himself trust worthy he could be a real boon to the rebels cause.

Tavia, though, worried Valen. The tiefling had watched the genasi throughout the meetings as she sat wrapped up in a blanket observing her brother and the other people in the room. Occasionally she would shake her head, or nod, but for the most part she had let her older brother handle things. Tavia hadn't made any effort to communicate at all during the meetings. She'd simply sat there, her eyes moving from one person to the next and eventually back to the plans on the nearby table. In the time Valen had been watching Tavia she hadn't let slip any clue as to what was going on behind those faded blue eyes of hers. Thus, Valen remained unable to come to any conclusion as to what kind of threat Tavia posed. Lore had admitted that his sister heard things, but the Seer was convinced that what Tavia was hearing wasn't in the general vein these things seemed to follow. As opposed to Tavia hearing things being a sign of insanity, the Seer had seemed sure that Tavia's 'gift' could be of great use to them if the genasi chose to pursue that path.

With Tavia unwilling, or unable, to speak Valen had been unable to form any opinion of her sanity. As it was with her level gaze and her expressionless acceptance of what was going on around her, Tavia unsettled Valen. As it was, with the Seer placing all her faith in her prophetical savior, Valen was intensely worried. Months of planning, and fighting, and struggling to survive could at any moment be rendered useless.

Perhaps that was why Valen had agreed to go with the siblings.

The Valsharess, the siblings had been informed, had several sources of allies in the Underdark and that these sources needed to be destroyed. Valen had also informed them of several rumors brought back by scouts of nearby islands down river that could provide useful resources. Lore had agreed that it would be best if he and his sister went and investigated not only the rumors Valen provided but the encampments of the Valsharess' allies. It had been decided, though, that sending Lore and Tavia off into the Underdark on their own would be suicide as both of them were agile, stealthy fighters as opposed to ones who could take a decent hit or two. If they were ambushed by the Valsharess' forces, unfamiliar with the land and without a heavy hitter, they'd be slaughtered. Nathyrra had been the one to suggest Valen go with Lore and Tavia, and in the end he tentatively agreed. At least this way, Valen decided, he could keep an eye on Lore and try to form some sort of opinion of Tavia.

At the moment Valen was in one of the larger rooms used for meetings in the temple, various papers spread out on the long table in front of him. If he was going to go with the siblings on their investigations he needed to sort through a variety of training schedules, reports, and miscellaneous documents before he handed things off to Commander Imloth to handle. Typically Valen handled this sort of thing in the office that had been allotted to him, but for the monumental task at hand he hadn't had the room.

It was while Valen was sorting through the papers, muttering and cursing to himself under his breath, that he heard the door to the room open slowly. In the relative quiet the creaking of the door had startled Valen, and he almost jumped as he turned to see who had interrupted his ruminations.

Valen was almost a little surprised to see that it was Tavia who now stood in the door way, her long, wispy white hair disheveled and her clothing rumpled. Anyone else, save Lore, might have mistaken Tavia's appearance for that of one who simply didn't care what they looked like. Valen seemed to remember, though, that air genasi had a constant air flow around them that made it hard to keep from appearing disheveled.

While mostly the Seer and her generals, Valen included, had rooms in the upper levels of the temple in case they were needed quickly, it had been decided that both Lore and Tavia would have rooms there as well. The Seer had made this decision after coming to the conclusion that placing Lore and Tavia in the Common Houses might result in them coming to harm. The drow in Lith My'athar were naturally suspicious of new arrivals, something Valen himself had dealt with briefly, and the Seer had not wanted to risk violence.

Tavia had spent most of her time between meetings sleeping in her room while her body adjusted, but now she stood in the doorway to the room Valen was using looking like she was all limbs and half awake in her rumpled dress.

Valen had hesitated before speaking, unsure what to make of the fact that the strange woman seemed to be watching him curiously. "Good day, Tavia. I trust you are feeling well?" Valen wasn't sure why he had said anything, he was confident that Tavia wouldn't reply to him. Tavia hadn't spoken a word since making her declaration the first day she had arrived.

"Yes, I'm quite well. Thank you for asking."

For one brief moment Valen forgot himself and was visibly stunned. Tavia's voice was soft and breathy, almost like a whisper; so typical of the air genasi. Valen quickly replaced the stony, guarded expression he usually wore and watched Tavia intently.

Tavia gazed back at Valen, her expression mildly inquisitive but otherwise devoid of emotion or sentiment.

Valen wasn't sure what to make of this. Tavia hadn't spoken a word to anyone that Valen had heard; not to the Seer, not to Nathyrra, not to her brother, not to anyone. And now here she was, standing before him, and as if it was completely normal she had responded to his forced pleasantry. After a moment or two of deliberation, however, Valen decided that he might be able to use this to his advantage. For whatever reason, Tavia had spoken to him, and if he managed to get her to speak again he might be able to finally assess what kind of threat she was, if any.

It was with this in mind that Valen cautiously spoke to Tavia again. "I… believe your brother is in the city at the moment." Valen said cautiously, as if he was speaking in the presence of a small animal that might run at any moment.

"I assumed he might be." Tavia said easily. "Lore is probably out finding provisions."

Though Valen was still a little surprised she was speaking to him, he didn't let it show. "Lith My'athar has a thriving market." He stated. "I'm sure your brother will have no issues finding food."

"No." Tavia said simply, stepping to the table and curiously gazing down at the papers covering it. "Lore has special dietary restrictions that make obtaining food that is safe for him difficult. What are these papers?"

Tavia had changed the subject before Valen could inquire as to what she meant by 'dietary restrictions.' Not that such things were unusual in the planes, but Tavia's phrasing of the statement had been ominous at best. Unable to come up with a natural way of asking 'well what in the hells_ does_ your brother eat?' Valen decided to comply in the change of subject.

"I'm organizing various reports to hand over to one of the commanders so I can guide both you and your brother through the Underdark without worrying how things are going back here." Valen explained, stacking some of the papers off to one side.

"Yes, I wanted to thank you for that." Tavia said, looking up from the papers to Valen now.

"Pardon?" Valen asked, slightly amused as he arched a brow at the young woman.

"Well besides the fact that you're dropping everything to guide my brother and I through a land that I have been informed is mostly a death trap, I have also noticed just how little you care for my brother." Tavia said in a casual tone. "Given Lore dislikes you just as much as you dislike him I can only imagine how abrasive you find his presence. So thank you." Tavia concluded. "Thank you for agreeing to come with us, it was very kind of you."

Valen watched Tavia for a moment, trying to decide what he thought of what she just said. "More practicality than kindness." He said finally. "You need a guide, someone who compliments your particular skills in battle, and this way I can keep an eye on you."

"I imagine so, but still, thank you." Tavia said simply, her eyes drifting back down to the table. A few minutes passed quietly, Tavia watching Valen as he went back to organizing the papers, before she finally spoke without raising her eyes from his busy hands. "What would you do, Valen, if you were in my position?"

Valen paused in his work, and glanced at Tavia. She had spoken the question casually, and if the question stemmed from insecurity Valen couldn't find it in her eyes or expression. She had asked the question, it seemed, purely because she was interested in his answer. Valen was sue she had an ulterior motive for asking the question, but for the time being he was unsure what it was.

"Honestly?" Valen asked, considering how he would answer for a few moments. Finally he decided to tell the truth. "If I had just been dropped into this situation with no connections and no actually reason to stay? I would likely leave."

Tavia watched Valen for a long moment, and he had the feeling he was being scrutinized. "All right then." She said at last. "A more practical question next then, if you have the time."

"Yes?" Valen asked, looking back to his papers.

"We have several options lain before us on how to proceed. Where do you recommend we start?" Tavia asked.

Valen considered the question for a moment before answering. "I would begin with the islands. If there are resources to be had there then they will soon be taken advantage of by someone else. We should move swiftly while we have the chance."

Tavia nodded. "Sound reasoning." She agreed. "When do you imagine you'll be ready to leave?"

"If I keep up my current pace?" Valen thought about his answer for a moment. "I should be ready to leave tomorrow morning."

"We'll leave tomorrow morning, then. I will inform Lore of this when he returns." Tavia said with a nod. "Now, if you'll excuse me, if we are to leave tomorrow I must make some preparations."

With that Tavia turned on her heel and left the room, leaving Valen alone to return to his work and wonder the meaning of his curious conversation with the genasi.


	6. Chapter 6

_I'll apologize now, this isn't one of my better chapters and it's mostly filler. I'm sorry for that. Part way through writing it I was hit by a bad bought of pain, and I just wanted to finish the chapter. The next one is much better, I promise. _

* * *

Chapter 6

Tavia was late.

_Of course she's late_. Lore cursed to himself silently. _Why wouldn't she be late when it means I get to stand next to a creaky boat with an ornery tiefling? There's nothing awkward about this other than the fact that all I want to do is rip the man's spine out and drink the fluid it contains._

Lore grumbled under his breath, looking away from Valen pointedly. The last of his food had spoiled and he'd been unable to replace it with anything found in the market. As a result of this Lore was both hungry and irritable that day.

"So…" Lore rolled forewords and backwards on his heels as he tried to come up with something to talk about. The awkward silence lingering in the air was grating on his nerves. There were a few more moments of silence as Lore struggled to find something to say. "Never really notice how hard small talk is until you don't have weather to talk about." He breathed.

Valen snorted, making a point of not looking at Lore. Tavia had kept them waiting for an hour and Valen was having a hard time restraining himself from tearing apart the city to hunt her down.

"Hey, at least I'm _trying_ to be polite." Lore pointed out.

"The other day you told me you wanted to sever my tail and turn it into a belt." Valen drawled, his eyes narrowed.

"And you told me that you were going to leap across the table and rip my head off with your bare hands." Lore retorted. "I fail to see what the problem is here."

Valen span to face Lore, glowering down at the other man. "A few days ago you and your sister dropped in out of nowhere and now the Seer expects us all to put our lives in your hands. I have worked too hard and too long to keep these people alive." Valen spat. "I wouldn't trust their lives to strangers even under normal circumstances, but the two of you? A man who has made it clear he doesn't care if we live or die and a woman who claims to _hear_ the multiverse? You _really_ fail to see the problem I'm having?"

Lore watched Valen for a moment or two, unfazed by Valen's sudden outburst. "You're a very negative man." He said at last.

Valen let out a low, frustrated growl and turned from Lore.

"Well if you're going to be that way about things, why don't you try and help me convince my sister to leave?" Lore suggested, crossing his arms.

Valen snorted, not deigning to answer Lore.

"Think about it, we both get what we want if we can change Tavia's mind." Lore pointed out. "You get what you view as a potential threat removed, and I get my crazy sister back to the planes where I can get that geas off of her."

"You want me to go behind the Seer's back and talk her 'foreseen savior' into abandoning us." Valen stated, his distaste evident.

"Well when you say it like that it's bound to sound bad." Lore said, rolling his eyes.

"I'm not doing anything so underhanded." Valen snorted.

Lore rolled his eyes and sighed. "Figures the first morally upright tiefling I met would be you."

Valen felt his skin prickle at Lore so casually mentioning his demonic heritage. He was about to shoot a scathing comment back at Lore when Tavia trotted up to the two men, smiling and looking as if she hadn't done anything wrong.

"And you've been where?" Lore asked his sister, one brow arching delicately.

Tavia didn't reply. Instead she simply shrugged her shoulders, still smiling, and brushed past Lore to make her way up to the boat.

"Is she always this infuriating?" Valen asked Lore, biting back his annoyance.

"Yes, always." Lore sighed.

With its three passengers on board, the boat slowly made its way from the docks and down the river towards their eventual destination. Lore had sat with Tavia on the opposite side of the deck from Valen for about an hour, whispering to her in some obscure language. Valen tried to ignore them, still angry over being kept waiting and Tavia's flippant attitude toward it. Eventually, though, Lore swung his pack up over his shoulders and went below deck leaving Tavia sitting alone on a crate.

Valen could feel the genasi watching him, but refused to acknowledge her.

Finally Tavia got up and walked across the deck to where Valen was standing. She leaned forward, resting her arms on the railing, and looked content to feel the wind created by the movement of the boat. Valen still refused to look at Tavia, instead choosing to set his jaw firmly and feed the resentment he felt towards her.

Tavia ignored Valen's foul mood, smiling up at him pleasantly as she enjoyed the wind. "Have we changed roles?" Tavia asked, almost mischievous in her tone. "Are you now the silent one?"

Valen snorted, no longer caring if his ire meant Tavia wouldn't speak any more. There had to be less annoying ways of figuring the girl out.

"Ah… you're mad at me." Tavia said, almost amused as she watched the large man. Men were so silly sometimes. Was her being late really so distressing that Valen needed to preserve a grudge? "Would it make you feel better if I apologized?"

"I don't need your platitudes." Valen snapped, glowering down at Tavia.

Tavia, however, was not intimidated. "Well I am sorry I kept you waiting. The blacksmith was longer with touching up my swords than he thought he would be. Nothing to be done about it."

"Why are you even speaking to me?" Valen shot at Tavia, his teeth grinding audibly.

Tavia looked to Valen, visibly surprised. "Why Valen, isn't it obvious?"

"No. It isn't." Valen said. "You don't breathe a word since you arrived here and all of a sudden you walk up to me and strike up a conversation? Why would your actions be obvious?"

"Well if you can't figure it out, I shan't tell you." Tavia almost sang the words, pulling herself up and sitting on the railing of the boat.

It took every ounce of control Valen had not to reach out and push Tavia backwards into the river. "Are you purposely trying to antagonize me?"

"Not at all." Tavia stated simply. "Quite the opposite in fact. I've been told I'm a rather vexing person, and I've been purposely trying not to be since I arrived here. I'm aware this is a rather tense situation and I've been doing my best not to make things worse."

Valen snorted. If this was the genasi trying not to be annoying, she was failing horribly.

"Look, if you're upset then you really need to say something." Tavia pointed out. "I'm many things, but I'm not a mind reader. If, however, you would prefer to glower about be mad I will respect that. We'll just ignore each other while we cut a path through the Underdark, and pray it doesn't get us killed."

"Must you treat the situation so lightly?" Valen shot at Tavia.

"Of course." She replied. "We all have ways of dealing with things, Valen. This is mine. I prefer to remain optimistic and unflappable in the face of danger. Are you honestly going to tell me you don't have your own tricks to getting through impossible situations?"

Valen didn't reply. His mind lingered briefly on his time spent fighting in the Blood Wars. How had he coped with that? It wasn't a pleasant thing to think about.

"Well, I'll leave you be, then." Tavia said, dropping back down to her feet. "Again, I am sorry I kept you waiting earlier. I'll try not to let it happen again." She said sincerely. "In the mean time, I'll be below deck with Lore. I want to be sure I'm prepared before we reach the island."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

It had been decided that of the two islands Valen had heard rumors about they would approach the one with the mysterious town first. Lore had rationalized, and despite himself Valen agreed, that the ruins on the island purported to have golems had been there for years. The town was new, vulnerable, and its sudden appearance was bound to attract unwanted attention from the other inhabitants of the Underdark.

The group had made their way down from the ship and headed up towards the town, but part way through their march Tavia had stopped suddenly, cocking her head to one side as if listening to something

_There are people up ahead._ She thought to herself. _They're speaking in the drow tongue; I can't understand a word they're saying. They won't be friendly, I can assume that much._

Both Lore and Valen stopped after they realized Tavia had, and her brother watched her intently now.

"It seems," Lore breathed. "That we can expect company up ahead."

Tavia nodded to Lore.

"Any idea how many?" Lore asked.

Tavia shook her head. She could hear more than one voice, but she wasn't sure how many people were up ahead.

"Well then, we'll do this the hard way." Lore breathed, glancing about. "They'd of had to come through here, meaning no matter how careful they were they'd of left traces."

"Does thinking aloud like that actually help?" Valen asked with an arched brow, more curious than skeptical.

"Yes, actually." Lore said as he crouched, touching the ground gingerly. "When working with complex puzzles or situations I find voicing my thoughts to myself helps me keep a clear head and my thoughts in order. Such tricks work in simple situations like this as well." Lore said, pausing to close his eyes as a wave of dizziness over took him. _It also works well when you're so hungry things are starting to blur together. There are people up ahead, probably looking for a fight. If I can get Tavia to lure Valen away… how do I get away from the group without things seeming suspicious, though? I might just have to brace myself and tell Valen the truth. He's a tiefling; he probably won't make that big a deal out of it if I'm lucky. Of course he might have been born in this back water plane, in which case things could go as badly as you think they might…_

"Stay still." Lore said to Tavia and Valen as he collected himself. "I don't need any more marks on the ground than there are now."

Valen watched Lore as he inspected the ground, actually a little impressed by the man's work. It seemed to Valen that Lore was counting up the foot prints made by the people who had recently moved through the area. Lore spoke his findings as he made them, giving insight into his method. The steps had been ginger and careful, this combined with the size of the feet indicated that the people ahead were likely drow. The depth of the foot prints indicated they were carrying more than just packs and weapons, meaning there was likely an encampment ahead. If Lore had paired up the foot prints and counted them properly there was nearly a dozen drow waiting for them.

"I would also expect traps." Lore said and he stood up and stretched his back, sore from the crouching he had just done. "That's more a hunch than anything else, though. Years of disabling traps has sort of given me a feel for when to expect them. This seems like one of those situations."

"Impressive." Valen said, aware that Tavia was beaming proudly due to her brother's success. "It must have taken years to develop such a talent."

"It's easy once you know when and where to look. That's where Tavia comes in." Lore said, indicating his sister. "Her hearing is much better than mine, and she often catches things that I would miss on my own. That being said, let's talk tactics." Lore said, cracking his knuckles. "If you give me a thirty second head start I can hide myself and take care of any traps up ahead. I'd recommend sending Tavia in first to draw off some of the attackers, and to give you a chance, Valen, to kill off a good chunk of them."

"Is it wise for Tavia to draw such attention to herself in battle?" Valen asked, glancing over to the genasi. Instead of armor Tavia was wearing a dress that was designed for travel; slit up the sides and offering maximum movement.

Tavia smiled pleasantly and nodded that she'd be all right.

"They'll never touch her." Lore assured Valen. "You'll see, she's too fast. It takes longer for her to put people down, but they go down in the end. Besides, I'll be watching your backs."

"That's reassuring." Valen grunted under his breath.

Tavia rolled her eyes at Valen, sighing.

Lore echoed his sister's sentiment. "I'm not going to let you get hurt on purpose." He said. "If I actually wanted to cause you physical harm I would man up and stab you in the shoulder."

"Again, very reassuring." Valen sighed.

"Look, just count to thirty and then follow after me, all right?" Lore said exasperatedly.

When Valen and Tavia proceeded up the path they found it free of traps as Lore had promised, and soon came upon the drow camp he had predicted. Valen had maintained his suspicions that it might not be a good idea for Tavia to divide the drow forces, but this fear was soon alleviated. Lore had been right, Tavia was _fast._ The genasi had almost dived into the middle of the group, and not one of them had been able to touch her. Valen found himself wondering, while joining the battle himself, how she could move the way she did and not be sore for days afterward.

The contrasts between Valen's own style of fighting and Tavia's startled him, though it did not reach his face in the heat of battle. Where Valen had always felt a level of rage during battle that he attributed to the demonic part of him, Tavia seemed… the only word Valen could think of to describe her was serene. The genasi wore an enigmatic smile as she moved through the battle, her movements graceful and her strikes precise. Valen had never seen someone fight in such a calm manner.

The sight was unnerving.

Lore had joined the battle as he said he would, and with the three of them working together the drow were made short work of. It was the leader of the band of drow that proved the most difficult to take care of, as just before Lore was able to strike a killing blow to her she cast a rather potent spell that momentarily froze time in the small area, allowing her to escape.

With the battle over Lore leaned forward with his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. "Okay, does anyone here know how to counter a spell that stops the flow of time in a localized area?" Lore asked, doing his best to ignore the fresh bodies surrounding them.

"You can't just say 'a spell that freezes time?'" Valen asked, strapping his flail onto his back and wiping the blood off his hands.

"Now what fun would that be?" Lore breathed, straightening up. "Question stands; do we have any idea how to counter something like that?"

Tavia shook her head.

"Being that none of us are mages, we're likely better off killing the woman before she can cast the spell again." Valen suggested.

"Well, at least we know for sure now that there's something of interest on this island." Lore muttered. "Come on, let's keep going." He said, trying to ignore the sounds of his stomach growling. "We should get things sorted out here before our new friends do."

The group made steady progress through the town of Shaori Fell. Tavia particularly had been interested in how the avariel ended up living underground, but some investigative work revealed the reason soon enough. Now they were hunting through the town to find shards of a mirror at a jester's behest, moving quickly to stay ahead of the drow spell caster they had learned was named Sabal.

Though challenging at times, their progress had been steady until they reached the temple at the far edge of the town.

Moments after stepping foot in the temple Lore stopped in his tracks, swaying a bit, and pressed his hand to his forehead. "Okay, something isn't right."

Tavia quickly moved to her brother's side, steadying him as he closed his eyes.

"What's happened?" Valen asked, furrowing his brow as he looked to Lore.

Leaning on Tavia for support Lore covered his mouth and gave a series of sharp, wet coughs. When he managed to catch his breath, he pulled his hand from his mouth and found a fair amount of blood on it. "I think I'm sick." Lore said, looking at his hand in amazement.

"It seems Talona has laid her hands on you." The group hadn't noticed the priest at the far end of the temple at first, but their attention was fixed on the avariel now.

Lore struggled to keep his breathing regular; his skin now feeling like it was on fire. "Save the religious psychobabble for someone who cares." He closed his eyes momentarily, aware he was starting to sweat. "Just reverse whatever it is you have done to me."

The priest looked mildly interested, but otherwise ambivalent to the situation. "I have done nothing. Though I do have a cure for the disease running through your veins, Talona has selected you for her trail. The only way you will get the cure is by proving you are worthy of it."

Tavia's eyes flashed in anger and she began to move towards the priest, but Lore stopped her. It had been four days since he'd last eaten, and though he'd of preferred if Valen remained ignorant of his dietary habits, Lore couldn't make excuses any more. In combination with the gnawing hunger he had felt for days he now had to deal with an illness running rampant through his body. Lore had hoped to just sneak back to the drow they had killed earlier, but faced with disease and some sort of trial Lore knew that if he didn't eat now he would likely die.

"Tavia," Lore could smell the rot on his breath and he let go of his sister and steadied herself. "Take Valen and wait outside for me."

"What do you mean wait outside?" Valen asked, suddenly aware that more was going on than just Lore being sick.

"I'll explain everything in a minute." Lore said, forcing his voice to sound even. "I don't want either of you to see what I'm about to do."

Valen was about to protest again, but Tavia had taken one of his hands in both of hers and was looking up at him with large imploring eyes. Reluctantly Valen acquiesced and allowed Tavia to lead him from the temple. The question of what was going on was on the tiefling's lips, but the moment Tavia shut the temple door behind them he got his answer.

Horrible screams and snapping noises could be heard in the temple from where Valen and Tavia stood. For a moment Valen stood stark still, a chill running down his spine as he listened to the sounds of the priest being mauled by Lore. Valen was thankful that they were not closer to the actual event, as he wasn't sure how much more he wanted to be able to hear.

"This," Valen breathed, his eyes still fixed on the door. "Is what you meant when you told me Lore had 'dietary restrictions.'"

The expression on Tavia's face was bleak, her eyes fixed on the ground, and she slowly nodded to Valen. "Yes." She said quietly.

The fact that a man was being eaten alive so near by shouldn't have shocked Valen as much as it did. He had seen and heard worse in the Blood Wars, had done worse to others himself. He should have felt betrayed or angry that they had kept such a secret from him, and from the Seer. As it was, though, all Valen could do was stand and stare at the temple door.

"The… the closer to living, mortal flesh it is the better." Tavia explained, her voice sounding forced. "Flesh can be… can be taken from the recently dead, but it starts losing whatever it is Lore needs from it immediately. After three days the meat is useless."

"Were you ever going to say anything about this?" Valen snapped, his shock wearing off now. It seemed his suspicions were correct; Tavia and her brother were a threat. Valen simply hadn't realized how large a threat they were.

Tavia shook her head, her hands clasped in front of her and her eyes on her feet. "No." She finally said. "Lore was… Lore was worried about how people would react. He thought that if… that if we mentioned something then it might put our lives in danger."

"You should have said something!" Valen half yelled at Tavia. "Your brother eats people alive, and neither of you think it's a good idea to mention something? You could have told the Seer! What was he going to do, just starve and hope no one noticed?"

Valen would have ranted more, but he was interrupted by Tavia burying her face in her hands, the gentle sound of her sobs soon following. Valen was still upset, but he'd never yelled at a small, crying woman before. With her wispy hair falling in front of her face and her shoulders shaking Tavia looked particularly forlorn.

"I…" Valen hesitated, unsure what to do. Ask him to kill a devil three times his size, sure, he could do that. How was he supposed to get Tavia to stop crying, though? Almost as if he was afraid he was going to make things worse, Valen reached out carefully and awkwardly patted Tavia on the shoulder.

Tavia couldn't help but laugh just a little, pushing the tears from her eyes. "Oh, I'm so sorry." Tavia sniffled, trying to smile. "I shouldn't have put you in an awkward situation by crying."

"No, I.." Valen swallowed and looked away from Tavia. She was watching with large, bleary eyes that made him feel guilty for having yelled at her in the first place. "I should have handled this better. I know what it's like to have… challenges in your life. I shouldn't have lashed out."

"I've just been so worried about Lore." Tavia said quietly, her eyes downcast again. "We're not used to places like this, where we have to be careful with our heritage. I don't know how you've managed to figure out things on your own."

Valen didn't respond. The situation was awkward enough with going into his own troubles adapting to the prime.

"After… after Lore is done and retrieved the antidote from the priest's body I'll go in and help him take some cuttings from the body to eat later." Tavia said, avoiding Valen's gaze.

"Are you sure you're all right with that?" He asked.

"Yes." Tavia breathed. "It doesn't bother me. I've helped him with it before. We're just not used to other people being privy to these things. Lore doesn't like eating in front of other people, and considers his dietary requirements very private."

For a moment Valen found himself gazing down at Tavia, trying to figure out how she could approach things like battle and butchering a person so calmly. Yet she'd cried so easily a moment before, as if she'd been sincerely distressed. Part of Valen wondered if he was being manipulated.

"When we get back to Lith My'athar we'll tell the Seer about Lore." Tavia said, straightening her hair and pushing the last of the ears from her face. "We won't ask you to keep a secret like this. It wouldn't be right."

"I would appreciate that, my lady." Valen said, inclining his head to Tavia.

Tavia turned to glance at the temple door, taking a deep breath. "The sounds have stopped. Will you be joining us?"

Part of Valen was thrilled at the idea of what kind of carnage lay beyond the temple door, but he knew better than to enter. It wouldn't be a good idea to expose himself to that sight. "I'll stay here and keep watch for Sabal and her drow."

Tavia nodded to Valen. "Thank you." She said, then turned from him and entered the temple once more.

The inside of the temple smelled like blood, and Tavia shivered slightly I delight as she inhaled the scent deeply. Lore was sitting on the floor down the hall, leaning against one of the pillars with his eyes closed and his breathing calm. Lore was splattered with blood and bits of flesh. Normally he was careful when he ate, but apparently he hadn't had the patience to attend to his meal as methodically as he normally did this time.

_Not that I blame him_. Tavia thought to herself. _He hadn't eaten in days. Butchering will be more difficult this time given the state of the body, but I can handle it. I've gotten viable meat from worse._

Lore had torn the priest's throat out and the man's intestines lay in a piled up mess on the floor in a pool of blood. Lore had apparently torn the priest's left arm off at some point and eaten it bones and all. Tavia couldn't help but smile at that. The bones weren't good for Lore and he knew it, but he liked the crunch and texture they provided. It was one of the reasons he liked to save the bones from hands and feet in a pouch so he could snack on them.

_He's like a child with candy sometimes._ Tavia moved over to Lore and knelt next to him, gently touching her brother's shoulder.

"I'm fine." Lore breathed. "He had the antidote in a vial in his robes."

Tavia nodded to her brother, satisfied that he was well now. While her brother rested she went over to his pack and unwrapped a small axe and knife, both wickedly sharp.

"Do you need any help with that?" Lore asked, starting to move from the pillar to sit up.

Tavia shook her head and pushed her brother back into his resting position, then set about the process of using the knife to cut the corpse out of his clothes. With the dead man naked, Tavia flipped him over and started to cut thin strips from the buttocks.

"How did our tiefling friend take the news that I'm more than a metaphorical man-eater?" Lore asked his sister.

Tavia shrugged as she worked. The legs were next, that was what the axe was for. After Lore had recovered, and after she was done with the butchering, they would go back out to where Valen was waiting for them. Tavia wanted to be done quickly so she didn't keep Valen waiting any longer than necessary.

It had been a long day, and the sooner this incident was behind them the better.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

_This was a dream, Valen was sure of it. He was vaguely aware of the heaviness of his sleeping body, but he also remembered this scene from earlier. He was standing outside the Avariel temple with Tavia, and she crying after he had yelled at her. Hells, that was right. He had yelled at her earlier, hadn't he? He had yelled at a delicate young woman who was just tall enough to come up to his chest. Looking at her in the dream, now, Valen couldn't help but feel like a bully._

_ Had Tavia been this lovely while he was awake? In his dream she was so ephemeral and fae-like in appearance it was hard to believe she was really there. Her face was buried in her hands behind a veil of silky white hair, small tremors from sobs running through her body. Tavia looked so... forlorn and Valen couldn't help but feel that he was responsible for the situation. In real life he had stammered an awkward apology and she had explained the situation to him, but now..._

_ Valen slowly found himself stepping towards Tavia, more confident than he would have been if he were awake. His arms slipped around the small woman and pulled her against her chest, vaguely aware that her sobs had stopped. For a moment or two Valen simply held her, listening to her breathing and trying to identify the mildly sweet scent surrounding her. She was cool to the touch, but Valen was keenly aware of how she was quickly warming to his touch and how easily she molded to his chest. Tavia felt so good settled against him that he almost wasn't surprised when she tilted her head up to him and slowly brought her lips up to his._

_ And then, just before she kissed him..._

Valen woke up.

The tiefling groaned, pushing himself up in his bedroll. The group had found a small cave to camp in while they waited for Cavallas to arrive once more with the boat. Lore was on watch near the entrance of the cave, and Tavia was curled up near by, perfectly still and dead to the world. The genasi had not been adjusting well to the Underdark, and only slept at all because of a drought the Seer had given her. As a result, Tavia had taken the first watch and Valen had volunteered for the second. Valen wasn't sure how long he had been asleep, but the fire was low and it had been in full glow when he had gone to sleep. At any rate, Valen didn't feel like he could sleep any more. He had no idea where that dream had come from, but it had startled him badly. Usually when Valen had dreams like that they were disturbing manifestations of what his demonic side wanted him to be doing. This dream had been... different.

Resigned to get up, Valen started to get out of his bed roll only to have to bite back a low moan. Though he had missed it at first, Valen was now _painfully_ aware of his erect cock straining against the inside of his pants. The tiefling wasn't sure why he hadn't noticed it earlier, and attributed it to the shock he had experienced after waking up. Apparently the dream had shaken him in more ways than one, and he lay back down now and turned to face the wall lest either of his group members see the evidence of his arousal.

It was that cursed woman. Valen wouldn't have been surprised if getting into his head had been part of some plan she had. The devious bitch had singled him out for some reason, she mad made that clear when she started speaking to him. What did she want? Was she trying to use him for some reason?

No, he was being paranoid. Tavia wasn't responsible for his dreams, he had been unreasonable to jump to such conclusions. Yes, she was odd and he wasn't sure of her intentions, but he doubted she had the ability to enter his dreams and try to seduce him. That left just one problem to deal with.

Valen's erection was getting uncomfortable, and he wanted to get rid of it quickly. Unfortunately he wasn't alone, which meant the quick methods of ridding himself of his stiff cock were unavailable to him. Sighing, Valen began running through battle tactics in his head and in ten minutes he was finally confident of his ability to get out of his bedroll without embarrassing himself.

The tiefling had decided to go and check on Lore since he was confident he wasn't going to be sleeping again, and the other man turned to watch him as he approached.

"You snore," Lore pointed out.

"Do not," Valen snorted.

Lore simple shrugged. He had been eating something, but now seemed to be casually stashing it in a pouch at his hip.

"Don't tell Tavia I'm eating bones." Lore sighed and ran a hand back through her hair. "She may not talk, but she's become an expert at making a person feel guilty just by looking at them."

Valen wasn't surprised by this news, Tavia seemed to be a master of silent communication. "Yes, she told me you're not supposed to eat them, though she didn't mention why."

"It's like candy. They don't really hurt me, but they don't actually sustain me either." Lore said, then grew quiet for a moment as he thought. He felt like Valen had just said something important, but he wasn't quite sure what. "Wait, could you repeat yourself?"

"Why?" Valen asked, arching one scarlet brow.

"Just do it."

"I said 'Yes, she told me-'"

"Tavia _told_ you something?" Lore was staring at Valen, incredulous. That had been what had grabbed Lore's attention. There was no way Tavia would have spoken to Valen. "You're a bloody liar."

"What reason do I have to lie?" Valen asked, mildly annoyed.

"I don't know, but it's the only explanation I can think of." Lore said, still reeling form surprise. "Perkele... she doesn't even speak to _me._ Why would she speak to _you?"_

"Hells if I know." Valen snorted. "I asked her, but she's not telling."

Lore slammed his fist back against the rock wall next to him. "_Why?"_ Lore ground his teeth, a painful act considering most of them were pointed, as he tried to figure out what his sister was up to. "So not only does she speak Common, a fact she's hidden from me for the gods only know how long, but now she's speaking to a man we've only known a few days."

This wasn't good. Tavia was up to something, and Lore had no idea what it was. They were in a position where they needed to be careful and keep to themselves as much as possible, and here his sister was playing some sort of game with the tiefling. "Look, do yourself a favor and stay away from my sister."

"You make it sound like something sinister might be going on." Valen said easily, though he was in actuality paying careful attention to Lore's words and movements. The other man seemed to be deeply agitated, and Valen had to wonder if his earlier assessment that Tavia might be trying to manipulate him could be right.

"Look, just..." Lore bit his knuckle, trying to figure out to best explain things without putting his sister and himself in possible danger. There was absolutely no situation in which Lore wanted to fight Valen. The man was a living weapon, and Lore seriously doubted his ability to beat him in a head to head battle. "My sister has never had conventional morals. When we started travelling together she was already... strange."

"Strange how?" Valen asked.

"Strange as in 'our village was massacred and I found her sitting calmly in a pool of blood near her dead mother.'" Lore spat at Valen.

The tiefling was momentarily taken aback. Whatever he had been expecting, it hadn't been that. "And this is relevant to her speaking to me how?"

"Her mother did the massacring." Lore said bluntly. "Tavia's mother was a wonderful woman, but apparently she was doing some disturbing things because one day the villagers decided to attack her, and in response she killed everyone down to the last man, woman, and child."

"Except for you." Valen said, watching Lore carefully. He should have been more surprised by this news, but it seemed oddly fitting. The planes could be a cruel place, and if Lore and Tavia had really grown up in the planes they should have experienced it's cruelty.

"I was hidden away somewhere safe at the time." Lore said with a sigh.

"Why did the villagers attack?" Valen asked. "If this was a village in the planes, as you have led me to believe, it should have taken a lot to get that sort of reaction."

"I don't know." Lore said, throwing up his hands in defeat. "I never knew Tavia or her mother very well back then. Though in retrospect, Tavia's mother _did_ find me flesh to eat, so that's probably a clue."

Valen sighed in frustration. "I still don't see what-"

"It has to do with you because bad things happen when Tavia speaks to people." Lore finally shot at Valen. "I've only ever heard of Tavia speaking to people when she thought they posed some sort of threat to us. She's a charming, beautiful person and she uses these qualities to..." Lore stopped abruptly, biting his lip. This was going badly. Lore had been trying to get Valen to stay away from Tavia without going into all this.

"What does she do, Lore?" It was less a question and more of a command. Tavia was a threat, Valen was sure of that, but it seemed she could also be a threat to him personally.

"Look... the last time I heard her speak we had been captured by a slaving party." Lore explained slowly. "She whispered to our guard all through the night, and I don't know how she did it, but before morning he was dead and she hadn't touched him."

Valen watched Lore intently, his jaw set firm. "I see."

"No, I don't think you do." Lore sighed. "My sister is a good person, and I'm convinced she genuinely wants to help your Seer with her war. But Tavia..." Lore paused, unsure how to continue. "Tavia doesn't live in the same world we do. She... struggles with herself."

Again Valen found himself watching Lore, but now a familiar chill ran down his spine. "What do you mean?"

"Tavia... constantly has something whispering in her ear, I think." Lore said with a frown. "I've met a few people who can understand it, but I've never really been able to."

"You mean the Music that the Seer mentioned."

"I think so." Lore said. "From what I understand she always hears it, and as a result she's sort of detached from day to day life. It's like she has this one part of herself that's always pressing for more and more attention, and as a result she's never really figured out..." Lore struggled, unsure how to explain what it was Tavia was lacking.

"How to act with humanity." Valen said, his voice a bit dull. Yes, this did sound familiar.

"That's one way to put it." Lore said with a small sigh of relief. "Look, I'm probably overreacting. I just... I'm just trying to keep us safe, and it's hard to do with a sister like Tavia."

"Being told all of this doesn't exactly affirm any faith I may of had in the two of you." Valen drawled, his eyes fixed on Lore intently as he watched the other man's reactions.

"Yeah, well, if my sister _is_ up to something, you deserve fair warning." Lore said simply. "I'll be honest, I'm not exactly sure how sane my sister is, and how long she will retain that sanity."

"And yet the Seer has used her to replace me as the commander of her forces." Valen said, slight anger prickling at the back on his neck.

"Tell me about it." Lore groaned. "This entire thing is like a nightmare. Hopefully someone, _anyone_ comes to their senses before we have to engage in mass combat."

Valen couldn't help but smile just a bit at this. "Very well then, I shall continue to try and convince the Seer she has made a horrible mistake in trusting the both of you." Which was probably true considering all he had just been told...

"Gods bless you, Valen Shadowbreath. If I didn't hate you so much I just might kiss you." Lore said with a small laugh, the sound of tension being relieved.

At that moment both men turned to look at the river before them, and became aware of the boat approaching int he distance.

"That will be Cavallas." Valen breathed.

"Probably." Lore said. "I'm sorry we've been so secretive with you, Valen."

"You're sister might be crazy, and you eat mortal flesh. That's not information I would give to complete strangers." Valen muttered. Of course this all meant that he had to watch the pair that much more closely, but Valen was more worried about the implications of why Tavia was speaking to him. It was now imperative if he was going to keep working with the siblings that he find out what exactly it was Tavia wanted from him. "I'd feel more comfortable if we informed the Seer of all this when we returned to Lith'Myathar, though."

"I think we pretty much have to." Lore sighed. "In the mean time, let's get Tavia and pack up camp. The sooner we get back to the city, the better."


End file.
